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As the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign picks up momentum heading into the final quarter of the season, paradoxically the next stop on the calendar is the quaint French town of Magny-Cours! Approximately 265 kilometres from Paris, and roughly sixty kilometres away from the Parc naturel regional du Morvan, the circuit is nestled in the rural central region of the country.

Don’t let the quaint surroundings fool you, as WorldSBK action brings the electricity of racing action to the hamlet year in and year out as it has done since 2003. It has hosted the fifth most WorldSBK races ever, and leading the tally of race wins is six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) with nine wins. Hot on his tail and in position to overtake him, Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) could move past the Ulsterman as he sits immediately behind him with eight wins. If he does so, he could tie his record of four consecutive hat-tricks, set last season and is the only WorldSBK rider to ever accomplish that feat.

KEY CORNERS: Magny-Cours’ corners to keep tabs on

The 4.4 km, 17 corner track features eight left-handed and nine right-handed turns. Starting out the lap, the track’s opening ‘Grand Courbe’ T1 sends riders into a second, smaller lefthand jink before the sweeping righthand ‘Estoril’ T3, encouraging riders to open the throttle while leaning to build speed into the gradually-curving ‘Golf’ T4.

This section of track is the favourite of Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), the Dutch rider triumphed here last season in what may have been the trickiest conditions seen all season as the grid contended with a deluge of rain. Only 12 riders were able to finish amid the downpour and none faster than the #60 for his second win with BMW and his first podium in two seasons.

On sector one, van der Mark said: “The track has a lot of flow to it, even though it has a couple of hairpins, there’s always this nice flow to it which makes this track very unique. I think that’s part of why I’ve always been fast there. My favorite sector has to be sector one. Turns 1,2,3 into the back straight- which isn’t very straight- I like it, but honestly, I like the whole track.”

Hard down onto the brakes into the track’s first hairpin, ‘Adelaide’ T5 takes riders to the right, right back the same direction they came as they pick up speed before T6 ‘Nurburgring’. After the right-handed T6, they bank left again, the angle getting tighter and tighter as riders enter the corner in the aptly named ‘180º’ T9. After an undulating T9 and T10, riders enter another straight before dropping speed for the T12-T13 ‘Imola’ Chicane. Upon the exit, it’s hard again on the brakes as riders enter the acute ‘Chateaux d’Eau’ T14, which sends them on another straight bisected by a gentle curve turning back left. Closing out the lap, the ‘Lycee pin’ T15 is the last overtaking hotspot before the T16-17 ‘Complexe du Lycee’ Chicane, which upon exiting, riders embark on a mad dash to the finish line.

On his happiest moments at the circuit, van der Mark continued “I have a lot of good memories at Magny-Cours, but I think 2024 was my best memory after just such a long time not being on the podium, to win there again, has to be one my best memories there. It was a very difficult race, I think only 12 riders finished so that shows how tough the conditions were. It was special personally, but also good to manage to win without making any mistakes despite how tough it was out there.”

Catch all the drama at Magny-Cours this weekend live or on demand with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 50% off!